Wellbeing Column: Towards Darkness

“There’s no darkness that my delicate hand cannot ward off,” sang Ultra Bra, a Finnish band that made a comeback this year and filled the Olympic Stadium.

But in addition to a delicate hand, the Nordic winter darkness really does require at least a bright light lamp, vitamin D, and even a bit of outdoor time whenever daylight briefly appears. Listening to favorite music can also help. In my own headphones, that nostalgic band often plays when I need comfort.

But there is also darkness that requires something even stronger to fend it off. In today’s world, unfortunately, it doesn’t take long to find it – it pushes itself onto our retinas every moment in the pale glow of our phone screens. The gloomy headlines in the news feed and the performance and appearance pressures fueled by social media can easily cloud our view of the future.

So maybe Ultra Bra was wrong: there is a lot, an overwhelming amount, of darkness that our delicate hands simply cannot ward off. Not even if they like, share, and scroll as much as possible.

With what can’t be warded off, we just have to learn to walk. Walk toward the darkness. But you don’t have to do it alone. As a University Chaplain, I often walk with students through the kind of darkness that vitamins aren’t enough to fight. Darkness that can’t be artificially lit, but that recedes only when the light inside each person is allowed to grow stronger. In that kind of darkness, what you need for support is not a phone, but another person’s hand – even a delicate one – to hold. That can be offered by a family member, friend, fellow student, or even a casual acquaintance, but such hands are also available in our wellbeing services, in both dark and bright seasons. After all, not all darkness pays attention to the time of year.

They say even the smallest light is visible in the dark. If you focus on that small light, you might notice it slowly growing. You can also nourish it with the strongest antidote to darkness there is. Hint: it starts with an “l,” and more songs have been written about it than anything else. That’s probably what Ultra Bra’s song is about, too.

Soon we will also celebrate a holiday whose core message is that, in the end, darkness gives way to light. That just as surely as the spring sun rises after a long winter, the light of love will eventually shine into all the darkness of the soul.

A glimmer of light to wherever you need it most right now!